Camel Fic

(By User:Daderot (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

This Camel Fic was posted by me as a comment at The Writers Vineyard on April 23, 2009 and I was asked by Kimber to repost it here on my blog because she liked it so much.

The picture was to act as a writing prompt and a challenge to create the first lines of a story based around the idea of a camel. Well, off I went...


When travelling, you never know when reliable transportation might become an issue, and a smart woman must be prepared for any eventuality.

Right.

Even the chic travel guidebook she picked up in New York couldn’t have prepared her for this. Honestly, a camel? And just how was she even supposed to get on that thing?

At her whimper of distress, it looked down its round nose at her, considering her just as carefully as she had been watching it.

“Come on, get up there. It’s a camel, not a T-Rex. You’re perfectly safe.” The voice behind her was deep and masculine. Also condescending, annoying, and impatient.

Gritting her teeth together so hard her jaw ached, Cindy turned to her “escort”, and she used the term very loosely. Despite the fact that he was obviously capable, the man was a ruthless dictator and nobody in their right mind should have ever hired him to be a tour guide. “And just how am I supposed to do that?” she asked.

Jack—Just Jack—smiled at her, showing two rows of brilliant white teeth. He was enjoying this a little too much. “I’m tempted to watch you try and figure it out, lady, but I think we’d be stuck here until doomsday,” he taunted. Nodding to the camel’s handler, who took hold of the animal’s reigns until the creature bent those long legs and settled on the ground, he sighed loudly and shook his head as if she were the silliest creature in all creation—which she very well might be for having agreed to this trip in the first place.

Jack took a step toward her, crowding her until she was forced backward. His hands went to her waist, and he turned her around until she was facing the animal, then lifted her onto its back. She let out a pained oof as he dropped her into the saddle and then climbed up behind her.

Her hand braced against his warm, denim-clad thigh, and she drew it back sharply, craning around to glare at him. He leaned forward, wrapping his arms around her, enveloping her in his rugged strength as he took the reigns from the grinning Bedouin. “Giddy-up,” he whispered in her ear, making her shiver.

Now I'm going to pass the challenge along. Come on, what would you come up with given this picture?